The old Komik Monastery (real name Tengon Lhundrup Choekhor Ling) is truly one of the oldest and highest monasteries in Asia. Its old building is located at an altitude of 4,587 m above sea level, and this monastery is used for the multi-month meditation retreat of senior monks. It lies on the roof of the world and the views of the peaks of the snow-capped mountains from there are breathtaking. Life there is incredibly rough and quiet, unless the “Cham Dances” are taking place there.
There is a legend that the monks moved the monastery due to drought, which was subsequently destroyed by an earthquake in 1975. Only ruins remain of the monastery. Only the statue of Mahakala in the original monastery remained intact. The monks came to the conviction that the original location was the most suitable for the monastery and moved back again.
Komik Monastery School
Previously, Komik upper monastery was normally used for study during the summer season and when our team was in India, we went up to meet the young monks in adoption. As time progressed, the school was established permanently further down in the capital city of Kaza. The facilities for teaching and accommodation there are more suitable, but not sufficient. Little monks can be more in touch with the main temple, learn rituals and be closer to their families.
The monastery school is intended for small boys from the region. Each monastery has several respective villages under its administration and families from these villages send their sons to the monastery school to get an education. Pupils must complete the study of modern subjects provided by government schools. This is followed by at least 5 years of traditional education. The amount of subject matter that pupils must learn is set and the study can be extended. After that, the students, aged 18-25, continue to study Buddhist philosophy at the Rangri Monastery much further down in humid Manali. This oasis is stunning to the visitors, but as the number of students increases, they are running out of space.
The school at Kaza in Spiti has 50 students, but of these 10 students attend Buddhist philosophy at Rangri near Manali. The average number of younger students in a class is 6. There is a gradual decline in students, probably due to the declining birth rate in the area. An average of 2 new students apply annually. Students leave school only in rare cases – health or family reasons, or the inability to fulfill school obligations and follow the course content. Pupils would need more school supplies for school teaching.
Although the little monks do not have much free time, they like to spend it playing games, football, volleyball, cricket and more. Life in the monastery is very simple, he knows very little about life outside the monastery. The food is very monotonous and there is no hot water. Adult monks spend most of their time taking care of the monastery.
Little monks are very well behaved, especially in front of adults they are disciplined and quieter, but among themselves they are more relaxed and talkative. Everyone has a different level of English and in the lessons they are divided into two groups according to age. They like to learn and most enjoy writing on the board and playing games in the English language. In the future, everyone would like to continue their studies. However, most subjects are oriented around Buddhist philosophy and Tibetan. Adult monks usually do not speak English, if they do, it is at a low level.
The school’s budget for the year is 1,220,000 INR (approx. 450,000 CZK). The main costs are food, teachers’ salaries, transport, heating for the winter and gas. The contribution of donations provided by MOST ProTibet, o. p. s., constitutes 68% of the budget. Other sources of funding come from foreign organizations or individuals and local contributions from the region. Through the non-profit organization Sapan Foundation, there is an effort to obtain additional funding, which prevents dependence on one financial supporter. The average annual cost per student is INR 30,500.
It is possible to follow each of the monasteries under Komik on Facebook on the following pages, where they post:
Tengon Lhundrup Choekhor Ling, FB: Sakya Kaza Monastery
E-wam Shedrub Choekhor Ling, FB: Manali Sakya Rangri monastery
Kaza/Komik monastery
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